Tool for spreading the tubes of water-tube boilers.



' Wvfineases:

J. KEERS.

TOOL FOR SPREADINGTHE TUBES OF WATER TUBE BOILERS. APPLICATION FILED 0GT.14,'1911.

1,082,809. Patented 1160.30, 1913.

2 SHEETB-SHEET l.

HJII IHI MHIHI COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPN COHWASHINUTON. D. C.

.J. KEERS.

TOOL FOR SPREADING THE TUBES OF WATER TUBE BOILERS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 14, 1911.

1,082,809. I Patented De0.3(),1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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JOHN KEERS, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

TOOL FOR SPREADING THE TUBES 0F WATER-TUBE BOILERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

Application filed October 14, 1911. Serial No. 654,606.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN Knnns, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tools for Spreading the Tubes of VVater-Tube Boilers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a tool for spreading the tubes of water-tube boilers and its main object is to provide an improved tool of this type by means of which such tubes may be spread with precision to any extent necessary in any particular case for the insertion or removal of a fire-brick between the tubes so spread. A tool of this type is especially adapted for permitting the insertion of the substantially diamond-shaped fire-bricks ordinarily placed between the wa ter-tubes of a boiler in-juxtaposition with baffle-plates, to protect such baffle-plates from the direct action of the intense heat of the furnace. By the use of such a tool the tubes of the boiler can be readily spread a suflicient distance to enable a workman to insert such a fire-brick in place in the correspondingly shaped space between the spread tubes without in any way cutting or weakening such fire-brick and without leaving any openings between adjacent fire-bricks through which the bathe-plate is directly exposed to the act-ion of the flames.

In a prior patent granted to Heely & Keers, January 2, 1906, No. 808,920, there is disclosed a spreading tool adapted to permit the spreading of water-tubes of boilers in the manner just described, for the purpose of enabling a workman to repair a wall by the removal of old bricks and the insertion of new ones. The present invention is an improvement upon that disclosed in said patent. In the tool of said patent the main specific features were a pair of tube-spreading members or faces disposed side by side and connected to the two parts of a carrier which two parts were also disposed side by side, the construction being such that the longitudinal axis and path of movement of one tube-spreading member and its carrier were at one side of, and parallel with, the longitudinal axis and path of movement of another tube-spreading member and its carrier. The tool of said patent had two tube-spreading members or faces on each carrier for the purpose of permitting the tool to spread four difi'erent tubes at one operation, and in said tool the two tube-spreading faces of one carrier were in the same plane and in parallelism with the corresponding faces mounted on the other carrier.

One of the principal features that distinguishes my present tube-spreading tool from that of said patent is the mounting of the two parts of the carrier in such a manner that they have a common longitudinal axis and move in the same plane, instead of in parallel planes, one part being preferably a tube and the other a rod slidable in said tube. The object of this is to make it easy to locate the tube-spreading members or faces in a common plane; and another feature of the invention, and one of the most important, is the employment in a tool of this type of tube-spreading members disposed in a common plane one in advance of the other in the direction of the length of the tool, instead of side by side as in the patent just mentioned. These tube-spreading members are embodied in the preferred construction in two spreader-heads one of which is secured to one partsuch as the rod-of the carrier, while the other is secured to the other partsuch as the tubeof the carrier. In such a construction as this one spreader-head is located in one position lengthwise of the tool and the other in a different position in the same direction in all adjustments of the parts. Because of this the tube-spreading or working faces of these heads are normally located in the same lengthwise plane and each is adapted to bear throughout its whole width, which is the width of the working portion of the tool, against any tube with which it may be brought into contact.

Another important feature of the invention is the provision of changeable connections in the carrier proper for the purpose of varying the length of the tool. In the invention of the aforesaid patent it was necessary to provide separate tools of different lengths, each complete in itself, for operating upon the water-tubes of boilers of different sizes. By providing suitable changeable connections, however, as hereinafter more fully described, I am enabled to do with a single tool having a proper set of parts all the work heretofore done by several complete tools of different sizes.

Other features of the invention not hereries the other spreader-head.

inbefore referred to will be hereinafter described, and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure l is a sectional elevation of my improved tube-spreading tool in operative relation with a plurality of tubes to be spread, and illustrates the construction pre ferred by me; Fig. 2 is an edge elevation of the main portion or working end of said tool; Fig. 3 is a detail of the handle portion of the carrier of the tool, it being a transverse section, and the section being taken in line 33, Fig. '1, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a modified form of tool also embodying my present invention; Fig. 5 is a sectional edge elevation of the same, and Fig. 6 is a transverse section and end elevation of the same, illustrating the manner in which the central part of the carrier is mounted and works in the outer part of such carrier..

Similar characters'designate like parts in all the figures of the drawings.

The principal elements of my improved tube-spreading tool are a carrier and two or more tube-spreading members embodied in spreader-heads disposed preferably one in advance of the other, lengthwise of the carrier and movable away from and toward each other for the purpose of effecting a corresponding spreading of two or more tubes and the release of such tubes after the same have been spread. Preferably there will be two pairs of these tube-spreading members, one pair carried by each spreader-head, and means for moving the two spreader-heads in such a manner that two of the working faces thereof will move in one direction to spread one pair of tubes and two other working faces of said spreader-heads will move in a direction transverse to the first for the purpose of spreading another pair of tubes. The carrier supporting the tube-spreading members or working faces of the tool has two main parts one of which carries one spreader-head and the other of which car The particular construction of these parts of the carrier may be varied considerably.

In the construction shown in the preferred form of the device illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the main or fixed member of the carrier is designated generally by 2, and in this case comprises several sections suitably connected. One section, constituting the handle portion of the device, is indicated at 3, and another at 4. The member 1 is a piece of tubing adapted to be readily connected at its opposite ends to cooperating elements of the carrier. The connection may be made in any suitable manner, as, for example, by threaded sleeves, indicated at 5 and 6, screwed on to the threaded and preferably oppositely-tapered ends of the parts to be connected. Here the sleeve 5 is shown as connecting the parts 3 and 4:, both of which are suitably threaded at their adjoining ends. As before stated, the other main member of the carrier is intended to be mounted so asto have the same longitudinal axis as the part 2 just described. This other part of the carrier is a movable rod,

designated generally by 7, mounted to slide in the tubular member 2 in such a manner as to be adjusted to" any desired relative longitudinal position, within limits. The extreme end of this rod is shown as a threaded member 8, having an opening 9 in the extreme end, for the reception of a bar or rod for turning it, and having a smooth reduced portion at its inner end, as shown at 10, for coupling to an intermediate rod-section 11. This coupling may be made in any suitable manner that permits the part 7 to turn relatively to the part 11 without turning the latter. The connections shown are a threaded sleeve 12, fastened to one end of the rodscction 11, and pins, 13, located between the lateral cheeks bounding the reduced portion 10 of the threaded section 8 of the rod. The rodsection 11 is also shown as so formed at its opposite end as to be readily coupled to, and uncoupled from, one of the spreader-heads; the other spreader-head being also'intended for connection to, and disconnection from, the intermediate tube'section 41.

For the purpose of advancing or withdrawing the rod-section 7 in the tube section 2 of the carrier the tube-section has suitable internal threads through which the threaded portion 8 of the rod is passed. These threads carried by the tubular member may be formed in a plain square nut 14, which may be inserted in the handle portion 3 of the carrier by sliding it into place through a correspondingly squared opening 15 in said handle. It will be seen that the nut 14 is held by the adjoining stop wall against both longitudinal and turning movement. 7

The tube-spreading members are preferably arranged in pairs, one member of each pair being carried by a spreader-head at one end of the fixed part of the carrier and the other member of each pair being carried by a spreader-head at the corresponding end of the movablepart of said carrier. The spreader-heads shown herein are complementary members, one of which is illustrated as having a tubular extension for connection to the niain or central tube-section 4:, while the other is illustrated as having a rod-extension for connection to the main or central rod-section 11. The two spreaderheads are designated generally by 16 and 17 the former having in this case a rod-like extension preferably integral therewith, as illustrated at 19, for connection to the rodsection 4 by means of the sleeve 6. These rod and tube extensions are so constructed that the rod is adapted to slide freely in the tube, it being understood that the crosssection of the rod and of the opening in the tube may be of any desired shape. The connection between the rod-like extension 18 and the rod 4 may be made in any suitable way, as for example, by a reduced portion 20 of the main rod-section 11 fitting in a corresponding bore in the end of the extension 18, the two parts being fastened together as by means of a pin 21 driven through registering transverse openings in them.

From the foregoing description of the sectional structure of each of the two main elements of the carrier it will be clear that by simply substituting for the rod and tube sections, 4 and 11, rod and tube sections of the proper lengths, but of. different lengths from those shown, the tool illustrated may be readily converted into one having a carrier of greater or less length than that illustrated. These changeable connections between the handle end of the tool and the head or working end thereof make it possible to convert the tool readily from one length to another for the purpose of operating on boilers of different sizes.

In the preferred construction each of the spreader-heads 16 and 17 has two tubespreading members or faces disposed at different angles to the longitudinal axis of the tool. The working faces of one spreaderhead are designated generally by 22 and 23, and those of the other spreader-head by 24 and 25. The working faces or tube-spreading members proper indicated at 22 and 24 cooperate to spread one pair of tubes, and

the other faces 23 and 25 cooperate to spread another pair of tubes, as will be clear by referring to Fig. 1. All four of these working faces, as here shown, occupy the same plane and are of the full width of the head of the tool, and the thrust is borne by all in substantially the same way. It will be clear that the full width of the working face is available in each case for engaging a tube, this being the full width of the head of the tool, whereas in the aforesaid patent the working face in contact with any tube was only one-half the width of such head. This result is secured, as will be obvious, by so constructing the spreader-heads that they lie one in advance of the other, lengthwise of the tool, instead of lying side by side as in the tool of the aforesaid patent. When the movable part or rod 7 of the carrier is moved upward in the fixed or tubular part 2 the working faces 23 and 25 of the two spreader-headswill spread the tubes t in a direction nearly vertical, and at the same time the working faces 22 and 24 will spread the tubes 2." in a direction at approximately rod and of the nut 14 will of course serve to maintain the two parts of the carrier, and hence the two spreader-heads and the two pairs of tubes engaged by them, in the proper relative positions. WVhile the tubes are thus held in such spread positions the fire-brick will be inserted or removed in any well-known way.

In Figs. 4, 5, and 6, I have illustrated a modification of my present invention in which the tube-spreading tool is not convertible from one length to another or other lengths, and in which the structure of the carrier is somewhat similar to that of the carrier of the aforesaid patent. Here the fixed member of the carrier designated generally by '2 comprises two similar, parallel pieces of bar metal spaced apart at the handle end of the tool, preferably by bending a single bar in the manner illustrated. The nut 14 is located in the space formed between the sides or arms of the handle portion 3 of the tool, and the threaded member 8 of the movable member 7 is passed through said nut and is adjustable longitudinally therein. Connection between the parts 7' and 8 is made in a manner similar to that illustrated in Fig. l, by grooving or reducing the smooth inner or journal end of the member 8, at 10, and providing a pair of pins, 13, for preventing a relative longitudinal movement of the parts 7 and 8,

while permitting a relative turning movement. The main portion of the movable member 7 of the carrier is also a piece of bar metal similar in cross-section to that of the fixed member 2. It is mounted to slide between the two members of the fixed part 2. At their forward ends the fixed and movable parts 2 and 7 have spreader-heads integral therewith, instead of formed as separate elements as in Fig. 1. These spreaderheads are designated respectively by 16 and 17', and their working faces by 22, 23, 24 and 25. The spreader-head 16 is, as will be evident, a single piece of metal of the full width of the head of the tool while the spreader-head 17 comprises two portions one integral with the free end of one arm of the fixed member 2, and the other in tegral with the free end of the other arm of said member. It will be seen that the two portions of the spreader-head 17 present a surface for engaging the tubes that is of the full width of the head of the tool, the engaging surface being a continuous surface as in the case of the spreader-head 16. The two portions of the spreaderhead 17 may be suitably connected and spaced, as by means of rivets or pins, 26, passing through them.

What I claim is:

1. A tool for spreading the tubes of watertube boilers, embodying a carrier comprising two main parts one of which is slidable in the other, a pair of tube-spreading members secured respectively to said carriers and disposed end to end and one of which is movable toward and from the other lengthwise of the carrier :for spreading a plurality of tubes relatively to one another, and means for moving said tube-spreading members toward and from each other.

2. A tool for spreading the tubes of watertube boilers, embodying a carrier comprising two main parts, a pair of spreader-heads disposed end to end in the same plane lengthwise of the tool and secured respectively to said carriers and one of which is movable toward and from the other lengthwise of the carrier for spreading a plurality of tubes relatively to one another, and means for moving said spreader-heads toward and from each other.

3. A tool for spreading the tubes of watertube boilers, embodying a carrier comprising two main parts one of which is slidable in the other, a pair of spreader-heads disposed end to end in the same plane lengthwise of the tool and secured respectively to said carriers and one of which is movable toward and from the other lengthwise of the carrier for spreading a plurality of tubes relatively to one another, and means for moving said spreader-heads toward and from each other.

4. A tool for spreading the tubes of watertube boilers, embodying a carrier comprising two main parts, a pair of spreader-heads disposed end to end in the same plane and movable into and out of engagement lengthwise of the tool and secured respectively to said carriers for spreading a plurality of tubes relatively to one another, and means for moving said spreaderheadst0ward and from each other and for holding them in any position to which they may be shifted.

5. A tool for spreading the tubes of watertube boilers, embodying a carrier comprising two main parts one of which is a rod and the other a tube, a pair of spreaderheads disposed end to end in the same plane lengthwise of the tool and secured to said tube and rod respectively and one of which is movable toward and from the other lengthwise of the carrier for spreading a plurality of'tubes relatively to one another, and means for adjusting said tube and rod relatively to each other.

6. A tool for spreading the tubes of watertube boilers, embodying a carrier comprising two main parts one of which is a rod and the other a tube, a pair of spreaderheads disposed end to end in the same plane lengthwise of the tool and one of which has a tubular extension connected to the tube of the carrier and the other of which has a rod extension movable in the tubular eX-' tension of the other spreader-head and connected to the rod of the carrier, and means for adjusting said tube and rod relatively to each other.

Signed at New York in the county of New York and State of New York this 11th day of October, A. D. 1911.

JOHN KEERS.

Witnesses C. S. CHAMPION, R. EIsnNsTADT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of gatent Washington, D. C. 

